Chronology of Coverage

Feb. 27, 2015

Nov. 19, 2014

Uganda is investigating theft of almost 3,000 pounds of ivory from the vaults of its state-run Uganda Wildlife Authority; five staff members are suspended. MORE

Sep. 4, 2014

Giant pink elephant sculpture by Tristin Lowe will greet New York Fashion Week visitors at Milk Studios in West Chelsea; sculpture is part of collaboration between Made Fashion Week and Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation to raise awareness about ivory trafficking and killing of African elephants. MORE

Aug. 19, 2014

Study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences finds that poachers killed an estimated 100,000 elephants across Africa from 2010 to 2012; number represents huge spike in continent's death rate of elephants because of increased demand for ivory. MORE

Jun. 21, 2014

Albany lawmakers vote to outlaw sale of virtually all items containing more than small amounts of elephant ivory, mammoth ivory or rhinoceros horn; legislation essentially eliminates New York's central role in well-established, nationwide trade with estimated annual value of $500 million; antiques dealers protest vote. MORE

Apr. 26, 2014

Xishuangbanna Journal; government financing and strict regulations have helped resurgence of Asiatic elephants in China, country whose appetite for ivory has long fueled the poaching trade in Africa; elephants in Yunnan Province still face threat from habitat loss as forests give way to rubber and other cash crops. MORE

Apr. 2, 2014

Letter from Dan Ashe, director of the Fish and Wildlife Service, comments on Godfrey Harris and Daniel Stiles March 27 Op-Ed article on agency's decision to tighten United States trade control on African elephant ivory to address poaching crisis. MORE

Mar. 21, 2014

New federal rules aimed at blocking sale of ivory to protect endangered elephants are causing uproar among musicians, antiques dealers, gun collectors and thousands of other people whose ability to sell, repair or travel with legally acquired ivory objects will soon be prohibited; several industries say they are frustrated and confused by regulations. MORE

Feb. 18, 2014

Editorial supports proposal by the Obama administration to ban virtually all of the elephant ivory trade in the United States; maintains if rigorously enforced, new rules could help slow the slaughter of dwindling herds in Africa, which has grown worse by the year. MORE

Feb. 8, 2014

Editorial supports proposal by New York State Assemblyman Robert Sweeney to ban sale of ivory in state; says it will send strong signal as African elephants continue to be slaughtered for their tusks; notes current regulations are too weak to deter illicit ivory market. MORE

Feb. 7, 2014

France publicly destroys a stock of about three tons of confiscated ivory from tusks of African elephants in effort to deter poachers and traffickers. MORE

Jan. 18, 2014

South African government reports that poachers killed 1,004 rhinos in 2013, up from 668 in 2012, as they continue to hunt the animals for their valuable horns. MORE

Jan. 17, 2014

Jim Dwyer About New York column observes that New York City has largest market for illegal ivory sales in country, and is a hub of trade for international poachers; notes New York State has a grand total of three state investigators, and as a result, crime rarely results in prison time for poachers or sellers. MORE

Jan. 12, 2014

Chuck Klosterman The Ethicist column answers questions about receiving anonymous letter about a neighbor's marital indiscretion and disposing of unethical waste like ivory and fur. MORE

Jan. 8, 2014

Jay G Conrad, Tennessee collector of wildlife curios, pleads guilty to three federal charges for his role in illegally bringing more than 100 narwhal tusks into United States. MORE

Jan. 6, 2014

Chinese authorities on Monday destroyed confiscated ivory ornaments and tusks in Dongguan, a city in the southern province of Guangdong, which is a major hub for the ivory trade. MORE

Nov. 6, 2013

United States Fish and Wildlife Service plans to destroy six tons of illegal African elephant ivory it has been stockpiling since 1980s; officials point to increased demand that is leading to devastating rise in poaching; hopes destruction of ivory will send message of zero tolerance and reduce appeal of ivory, rhinoceros horns and other illicit animal products. MORE

Sep. 25, 2013

Zimbabwean authorities say at least 81 elephants have been killed for their ivory tusks by poachers using cyanide poison in water holes in Hwange National Park. MORE

Aug. 8, 2013

Officials in Togo say major ivory trafficker Emile N’Bouke, who activists say has fueled slaughter of more than 10,000 elephants dating to 1970s, has been arrested; N'Bouke was found to have more than 1,500 pounds of ivory at his shop in capital Lome. MORE

Aug. 8, 2013

Hong Kong customs officials seize illegal shipment of ivory tusks, rhino horns and leopard skins worth more than $5 million; haul is second seizure of endangered species parts in a month in the city. MORE

Jul. 25, 2013

David McNevin, who served as defense attache at American Embassy in Nairobi, was stopped at Kenyan airport in June with a little less than two pounds of ivory; his arrest means that a former official of American government dedicated to stopping poaching that has threatened the very existence of Kenya’s elephants was engaged in ivory trading himself. MORE

Jul. 20, 2013

Customs officials in Hong Kong announce one of their largest seizures of smuggled ivory, intercepting 1,148 tusks weighing in at 4,800 in a container coming from the West African nation of Togo; incident highlights pervasiveness of trade that conservationists describe as an all-out crisis for elephant populations in Africa. MORE

Mar. 17, 2013

Op-Ed article by conservation scientists Samantha Strindberg and Fiona Maisels describes their study published in journal PLoS One, which shows staggering 62 percent of forest elephants have vanished from central Africa between 2002 and 2011; underscores necessity of curbing ivory trade. MORE

Mar. 7, 2013

Editorial decries that China's voracious appetite for ivory continues to devastate Africa's elephants; urges Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species to unequivocally restate its opposition to ivory sales and persuade individual countries to close loopholes that encourage smuggling; calls on international aid agencies to aid poor African nations in protecting wildlife. MORE

Mar. 2, 2013

Trade in elephant tusks continues to thrive in China, even as conservation groups call on Beijing to do more to crack down on the slaughter of African elephants; illicit sales and poaching have boomed in five years since conservationists and governments agreed to a program of limited legal ivory sales (Series: The Price of Ivory). MORE

Jan. 18, 2013

Scientists say that proportion of illegally killed elephants in Samburu area of northern Kenya has risen to more than 50 percent of all elephant deaths, reflecting extremes poachers are willing to go to in targeting well-protected and monitored populations. MORE

Jan. 8, 2013

Kenyan officials say that 11 elephants were slaughtered and their tusks chopped off by ivory poachers, one of worst single episodes of poaching in country in recent years. MORE

Jan. 5, 2013

Customs officials in Hong Kong announce their third large seizure of smuggled ivory in less than three months, saying they had intercepted 779 elephant tusks weighing 2,900 pounds in a container originating from Kenya. MORE

Jan. 1, 2013

Rangers in Zakouma National Park in Chad are increasingly finding themselves wading into the bush to confront hardened soldiers working as ivory poachers; trend is due to rebel groups and even government armies slaughtering thousands of elephants across Africa to cash in on record-high ivory prices (Series: The Price of Ivory). MORE

Dec. 30, 2012

Destitute Kenyan villagers are so eager to protect their wildlife and the tourism dollars that safaris bring that they are risking their lives to confront poaching gangs; tens of thousands of elephants across Africa are being poached every year because of Asia's soaring demand for ivory (Series: The Price of Ivory). MORE

Dec. 27, 2012

Gabon’s government has made efforts to combat poaching, but as price of ivory soars elephants continue to face slaughter in one of gravest wildlife crises in decades; many people in Gabon still live in extreme poverty, despite country's oil money, and their desperation can spell doom for endangered wildlife (Series: The Price of Ivory). MORE

Dec. 12, 2012

Malaysian authorities uncover more than 1,000 smuggled elephant tusks hidden in secret compartments in two shipments of mahogany, staggeringly large seizure that conservationists say is biggest in history; increase in smuggling is fueled by growing demand in Asia, especially in China, and rising prices. MORE

Sep. 9, 2012

Editorial calls attention to the fact that elephant poaching in Africa is increasing, largely due to demand from China for illegal ivory; urges the United States and other nations to do everything they can to halt the practice. MORE

Sep. 4, 2012

Conservation groups say African poachers are wiping out tens of thousands of elephants a year, more than at any time in the previous two decades, as the underground ivory trade becomes increasingly militarized; some of Africa's most notorious armed groups are hunting down elephants and using tusks to buy weapons and sustain their mayhem, but even African armies have been implicated in poaching. (Series: The Price Of Ivory) MORE

Jul. 17, 2012

Editorial contends that any successful effort to curb the killing of elephants for illegal ivory must involve increased vigilance at both the source and the end-market for the material; suggests that the only long-term solution lies in improving the economic lives of humans who live among elephants. MORE

Jul. 13, 2012

Manhattan jewelers Johnson Jung-Chien Lu and Mukesh Gupta plead guilty to marketing what prosecutors say was more than $2 million in illicit ivory; case reflects a growing trend of the use of banned ivory, more than 24 tons of which was seized around the world in 2011. MORE

Dec. 30, 2011

International Fund for Animal Welfare reports that large seizures of elephant tusks made 2011 the worst year on record for elephants since ivory sales were banned in 1989. MORE

September 4, 2014, Thursday

Poachers killed an estimated 100,000 elephants across Africa from 2010 to 2012, a huge spike in the continent’s death rate of the world’s largest mammals because of an increased demand for ivory, a study found.